1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to a cosmetic for obscuring balding areas by enhancing the visibility of existing hair within the balding area and a novel method of application.
2. Description Of Prior Art
Baldness has been a problem, both for men and women, throughout the ages. A thinning scalp has long been a traditional sign of aging.
People have used hair pieces, hair weaves, internal and externally applied medicines, hair transplant and scalp reduction surgeries, and many other means to try to avoid appearing bald. Some attempts have worked, but most have proven expensive, difficult and at best only partially successful.
In order to understand how the present invention works in hiding baldness, it helps to understand what baldness is to begin with.
Male pattern baldness is in fact not generally a total elimination of all hair within a balding area, but instead a reduction of hair size, visibility and count within the balding area. Even an individual who has a clearly visible scalp generally has a substantial number of small hairs still left in the balding area. The problem is that the hairs that are left are too few, too translucent, and too small to visually cover the scalp.
Baldness in women generally differs from that found in men. Instead of hairs shrinking in size and losing pigmentation and mass, women typically suffer a reduction in hair count over part or all of their scalp. What women share in common with men, however, is that the areas where the skin or scalp show through the hair usually still have hair, but hair in insufficient numbers and sizes to obscure the underlying epidermis.
The present invention takes advantage of remaining hair within a balding area by enlarging its size and enhancing its visibility. Specifically, the present invention thickens and adds pigment to the existing hairs which in turn, increases their prominence and visibility and thus obscures the underlying scalp or skin.
Embodiments of the present invention work so well in fact, that both men and women who have clearly bald areas can cosmetically eliminate the areas in just a matter of several seconds.
In a previous invention (Australian Patent No. 73,413/74) Kenneth Pond disclosed a composition which is inferior to embodiments using the present invention.
Embodiments using aspects of our present invention may improve over embodiments using the previous invention in several areas. First, relative to the earlier first invention, embodiments using our present invention may create significantly less overspray (the airborne dust from an aerosol which is formed from aerosol agents which don""t adhere to their target). Next, embodiments using our present invention may measurably decrease undesirable transfer of the baldness cosmetic onto clothing and other objects the hair may contact or come into proximity with. In addition, aspects of our present invention may noticeably soften the treated hair in and around the balding area both visually, and to the touch. Also, aspects of our present invention may make the hair look more natural by increasing its surface sheen. Finally, embodiments using our present invention may be resistant to being washed out in the rain or by heavy perspiration.